Re: Saving endangered langs (was Re: Extrapolating languages)

Dirk Elzinga scripsit:

> I think that the *sole* determining factor concerning language
> preservation efforts should be the wishes of the community.
Well, I think it's useful to differentiate here between mere documentation
and active anti-language-death measures.  The latter, as you say, are plainly
a matter for the community of speakers or would-be speakers.  I don't see,
however, that there are any ethical strictures against documenting a
language even if the community (or the larger part of it) is willing to let
the language go extinct.

> [1] For the same reason, I feel that any religion should be allowed to
> proselyte freely, provided that they do not use manipulative or
> coercive techniques; people are smart enough to make these kinds of
> decisions for themselves, and they don't need help or advice from any
> political authority in matters of conscience or faith.
Fair enough, with the proviso that there are gray areas between mere
persuasion and manipulation, but most of the time the latter strategy
turns out to involve behaviors on the part of the manipulator that are
already criminal or tortious.

--
Income tax, if I may be pardoned for saying so,         John Cowan
is a tax on income.  --Lord Macnaghten (1901)           jcowan@reutershealth.com

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